Scott White from CBS hosted this NL-Only draft that started at 8 AM PST. For the second time in my life, I was glad I didn’t live in Hawaii. The first time was when I received a coconut piggy bank from every relative that ever went to visit Hawaii. They should have a March Madness tournament for number one wackiest export. In the first round, Hawaii vs. China with coconut piggy banks going against backscratchers. They can meet the winner of the match-up between Switzerland and Taiwan with cuckoo clocks taking on baby corn. “I can’t believe baby corns advanced to the 2nd round. I didn’t think cuckoo clocks could be beat.” That’s the guy in your office who bets on anything that’s organized in a tournament. I drafted the team almost completely on my own since it was so early and Rudy was nursing a huffing hangover. Rudy did scoop in and draft the bench because, well, I had to poop. Anyway, here’s our 2013 fantasy baseball NL-Only team:

I REALLY LIKE YOUR…ACTUALLY, I KINDA LIKE YOUR… BETTER YET, I SORTA BARELY LIKE YOUR TEAM!

No teams look great. Let’s get that out of the way right now. Last year, coming out our AL-Only draft the pitching looked egregious. FYI’mawesome, we won that league. I’m happy with this draft because I stacked the team with NL-West pitchers and guys I like a lot — Aroldis and I were going to have a torrid love affair this summer where we rub insane ratios and spectacular Ks on each other. Well, Dusty effed us in the coolie and now we have a $12 Salad. Dillon Gee’s fantasy was written out in pink highlighter by Sky, but I gots much love for him, as well. Gee really? Cute, Random Italicized Voice. Turns out you should’ve stopped f**king Michael Fiers because you weren’t getting Michael Fiers anyway. Not in the rotation at least. As announced today, Fiers is out of the rotation, so six weeks later that pick doesn’t look as good. The Ryu pick looks better as he righted his Spring Training ship and is locked into the Dodgers rotation. We have too many saves, but we can trade some (hopefully). Our hitting, well…

NICE SLEEPERS IN THAT OUTFIELD IF YOU’RE DRAFTING FOR 2010

I couldn’t believe Aramis was only going for $24…I couldn’t believe A-Gon was only $26….I couldn’t believe Rizzo was only $24….I couldn’t believe Aroldis was only $17….I couldn’t believe someone didn’t go to $17 for Neil Walker and outbid me… I was hogtied with no money so I had to scrap together the back half of my outfield. Or maybe that’s crap together. It’s not pretty. Right after the draft, Rudy said, “I don’t think we’ve ever had so many one dollar players.” I think he’s right. It’s not my ideal situation. I like to have a few $5-10 players at the back end of my team, not one dollar beauts, and by ‘beauts’ I mean butts. Rudy also said this on IM about another guy I wanted to draft. Someone sounds like a fat-ist. You know your hitting isn’t good when there’s not even news about your players.

NL-ONLY LEAGUES ARE LIKE AN AWARD SHOW WHERE THERE’S NO SEAT FILLERS

I didn’t miss the Astros, but I missed other people drafting them. The loss of a whole team really depletes the pool of players. I miss the days when someone drafted the Astros’ 3rd baseman and said something like, “Hey, at least he’s a starter.” And then I’d laugh. I miss those laughs. It’s like you’re watching the Emmys and no one is sitting next to the guy from The Big Bang Theory, and you’re like, “I don’t particularly like the guy from The Big Bang Theory, but I like him more because he looks lonely sitting by himself.” That’s how I felt about a lot of my team. I don’t like Neil Walker, but I like him more without any seat fillers. Someone petition the Minnesota Twins to move into the NL!

In a 12team H2H league with obp instead of avg, 3b, 2b, runs, hr, ribs, steals as cats– if you drafted Mccutchen first, would taking jUpton as second pick be preferable over taking longo if he’s there. Or would you go for longo as second pick?

Someone dropped Valverde. Worth a speculative drop of any of these guys?

And regarding that BBQ joint, it did seem suspicious that it was in WeHo. Just doesn’t seem like the area for great BBQ, being, 1. not in the southern part of the United States, and 2. not in the southern part of LA.

Got a bit of a hangover from a late poker game (which also involved trying to help my friend’s poor dog, who got sprayed by a skunk), and now I’m really craving BBQ…

Cougs and I had a long discussion about this because we just went to Austin a few months ago for BBQ… Why can’t LA do BBQ? It would seem like someone from Texas would come here and do it really well… Or from Memphis… Or from NC…. Why has no one tackled the LA BBQ market? I’d hold off on Valverde for now…

@Grey: I absolutely agree. wonder if maybe the regulations make it difficult, bc of the smoke? It could also just be one of those weird LA things, like how until recently there weren’t any good, NY style pizza joints…seems so obvious that it would thrive.

Yeah, I brought up pizza with cougs… There’s a ton of decent pizza in LA now… For a while people were like, it’s the water… That’s BS… And I want my BBQ! Instead of Nashville, you should’ve opened a place here…

What’s your opinion on the whole tanking franchise issue? The marlins and too a lesser extent the astros have taken flack for it. Guess you could group the twins in there too. Bud selig has even had to form a response in regards to this.

Is is better to shed all your gaments and be ridiculed as you run naked on the field or it is slightly more respectable to tun out there shedding some if your clothing, but keep wearing veteran underpants and a solid vest. You’d still get ridiculed even though you are less exposed, right?

Agree. That guy is a cartoon villian. I’m shocked to see someone so blatantly twirl his moustache is public in this day and age. Baddies are usually more covert.

The full page spread in the marlins newspaper really took the biscuit. The gall of the man! He’s hired a pr team to improve his image. Um, and the astros are winning the world series this year. Good luck with that loria.

Actually I think that’s a pretty solid NL team. I’m not sure the no top starter approach translates on ONLY leagues, but I like the guys you got. This looks competitive.

Did anyone take Puig for their bench (if that is allowed in the rules)? Are we missing this guy as maybe Bo Jackson Jr? I’ve got the 1st farm pick in an NL only keeper league, and I’m thinking of taking him over D’Arnaud. Incredible tools.

I’d take Puig over d’Arnaud… d’Arnaud could be good for catchers, Puig could be for all players… We went with no number one last year and it worked out… At the time I drafted, I thought Aroldis was our number one…

I’m a geek and and have tried time and again to like big bang theory. its like they’ve transposed a mediocre sitcom into a show with nerd references. Bad joke. Bad joke. Bad acting. Bad joke. Canned laughter. Star trek reference.

Oh they mentioned star trek! This show must be good!

Not really. Without soft kitty shelddon its a steaming turd. Which it may be anyway.

@gareth: Have to completely and utterly disagree with you. I think the humor is smart and the acting superb. The actors really inhabit their characters to the point where you probably think that’s how they act in real life (hint: they don’t).

And I generally don’t like blondes, but for some reason, Kelly Cucocoucko takes my elevator to the top floor. Just gotta get her to the courthouse and give her my last name cause hers is a mess. What is it… Czech? Polish? Some weird Albanian-Italian combo platter?

He’s just trying to get a feel for which way you’re leaning so he can call balls and strikes correctly. There’s an innuendo or two in there but I leave it up to you to find them. Consider it your own personal Easter egg hunt.

It’s true, in the dank, wet NW I have a built in eye umbrella (eyebrella?). I can even invite a cute girl in from the storm with it. However, I once tried to participate in the running of the bulls but everyone ran from me. Took me awhile to figure out why.

Hey whats the deal with the brew crew say Fiers will be a long reliever should I keep him or is Wily Peralta a good sleeper as well? Also I’m gonna use my DL spot for Headley so should I keep or drop adam eaton does he have enough upside to keep around till he is healthy. This is in a 12 team mixed league by the way.

Thinking of replacing him w/ a hitter. Candidates are Juan Francisco, Gerardo Parra, Span and Valdespin. Leaning towards Valdespin because of the upside though Francisco does have that crazy power. Parra seems the safest short-term. What do you think?

so got dragged in to my first auction draft in some where around 6 years of fantasy baseball. It was a last minute thing to fill a drop out in my friends 12 team 5×5 auction. Had no idea what I was doing in an auction draft and had about 20 mins before the draft when I got the call to prepare.

Really need to upgrade my DH slot figured I could flip a closer for decent guy to stick there. Besides that not really sure how I feel about my first ever auction team any thoughts/concerns would be helpful. Thanks alot

@Eric W: I think your team looks pretty good. Gomes might be playing everyday and could be decent in Fenway. I’d wait before trading a closer unless I got something pretty good. Maybe trading Boggs or Frieri would be worth it since they won’t be keeping the job for long.

Not bad at all… I think you’re high on injury risk (Tulo), and you might be a tad light on power (OF + DH)… The pitching looks nice… I’d wait a week and see how Gomes does with Ortiz sidelined while keeping an eye on other players to fill it in…

How can people take doing AL or NL-only leagues? Doesn’t it drive one insane to look at your team’s production for the day and see that they scored 1 run and hit .200? I mean, c’mon, life is too short to halve your pleasure (which is why I don’t believe in condoms outside of Nevada and Bora Bora).

There’s a certain elegance to it when you can actually put together a great team… It’s like turning Rachel Leigh Cook into a hot girl when you could’ve just dated a hot girl and not did the work…. Last year, we walked away with the AL-Only title, as the post said, if you look at that team you don’t see great in March, but it turned out real nice…

Hey Grey,
Assuming Bonifacio bats at the bottom of the Blue Jays order, and assuming Gyorko and Matt Carpenter both get 2B eligibility, who of the three would you try at second in a 12-team 5×5 roto ? Thanks.

6 SPs, 3 RPs is ideal…. 5th and 6th starters are the first ones off the team for streamers… Usually go to 1 streaming spot, but if someone pitches well, they could stay on the team and become the new 6th starter… I rarely stream two spots…

@gareth: I only hear of that in the H2H. It’s obvious that it’s 2 starts in the week. Nothing like facing the guy in my league with Verlander when he’s got a two start week and one will be against the Astros… That will be my life in the middle of the year I’m sure.

Hey Grey, I’ve been waiting for you to do an NL only draft so I can post a “what do you think of my team” comment. Its a 4×4 dynasty league (no runs, no Ks), 12 team NL, 2 catcher, 5 OF. there’s no bench and a very limited waiver wire (only 2 free moves besides injury.)
Here it is, in all its glory:

I did a 10 team H2H points league in Yahoo! a little while back. A few of the people in the league follow Yahoo! rankings too closely so I have gotten slack for not drafting a good team. Nevertheless, in my opinion the words of the mustache are the word of god to me. First things first, can I get a little advice on how my team shaped up… then I was tossed a trade of Peavy/Aybar for Morrow (Seguar, Cabrera, EverCab are FA). I am leaning towards doing it because of Morrow’s upside but could I just be huffing paint thinner?

Hi Grey, I am in a salary-cap league with only 6 transactions allowed for the year. I have 2 pressing questions. Who is a better selection as my DH; Evan Longoria or Edwin Encarnacion? Scoring is as follows:

If I am totally in love with Giancarlo, and think he will put up a monster year, how high can I take him? After he came back from knee surgery last year he hit 18 HRs in 43 games, which would be over 60 in 150ish games. He also is only 23, and I don’t think his lineup will hurt him as much as everyone else seems to think. I don’t think he keeps that insane pace, but if I get a pick in the top 3, would it be a big mistake to take him over one of the consensus top 3? I know Rudy has him at #4 overall, and that’s the highest I’ve seen anyone rank him…

Trade away CC and get a top 3rd baseman… Your pitching is way too good, you should’ve took a 3rd baseman when you were taking all of that pitching… Trading away Strasburg for Cano or an outfielder would work too… Your hitting is a bit of a mess…

I drafted goldy too, so giving up konerko seems ok. My other rp’s are axford and kenley Jansen . My starters are slightly below par since I drafted too many hitters(my bad) and followed your advice of taking quality bats early. Best sp is medlen… Should I confirm trade?

going into it with braun, votto, longo, verlander, strasburg
have 5th pick. would love if Cespedes was there but doubtful. goin to rab either him Zobrist, BJ upton Wainwright or Ryan zimmerman or Kipnis.

Matt Adams will be on the 25 man roster and will having a starting spot if Beltran, Holliday, or Craig go down with a short term injury, or if the injury is long term and is before the date where Oscar Taveras no longer is a clock casualty.

If you have to have a part time/bench player, he would be the one to own.

Blech. Only light on power, speed and average, otherwise good. Price/Choo chosen for me when the app froze. Downhill from there. I will be throwing myself into the arms of the streamonator (as I had planned to do)..

@royce!: Yeah, obviously fairly Grey with the first two picks, but then a fair bit of Point Shares from then on.

Was actually going to take Cliff Lee instead of Price that was taken for me. Chhoo is OK, but I perhaps might have grabbed more of a power bat if it hadn’t been taken out of my hands. Got scooped a ton too.

Must go and see how much decent starting pitching is still on the wire ;-)

As far as I can tell, I’m weak on steals, average, and saves, but those are the things I feel most comfortable being weak on, and there are a few dudes that totally hoard closers in this league, so I’m cool letting them fight for that 12 points…I went pretty SP heavy because people kept falling further than I thought they should…actually, beyond Rizzo, Zimmerman, Stanton, and Maybin, this team is comprised of players I didn’t necessarily target, but felt had fallen far enough. Except for Ethier- he was just a mistake. Not a terrible mistake, but one nonetheless.

I agree with what you said overall… Specifically, I think it’s the first time I’ve seen Belt on a 12 teamer… Hopefully he keeps his momentum going… Don’t love Smoak though, who I also don’t see much of… Your pitching looks fine, I don’t love CC or Cueto, and I hate Haren…

@Grey: Thanks for the honest assessment, I figured that there were few guys here that you loved (but in the RCL, it’s hard to get very many).

I’m hoping one of Belt or Smoak works out well. Smoak apparently made some adjustments at the end of 2012 that made him a top 10 player for at least September, and he’s kept it up in ST (hitting .418). Belt is also killing it in ST, hitting .419, but I don’t know anything about any adjustments he’s made, so that’s more a shot in the dark.

Maybin also made an adjustment late last season, hitting over .290 in August and September, and is hitting .310 this spring. And hopefully Headley will return with decent power, but I’m less hopeful about that. Just figured that the league leader in RBI was worth a gamble at 201, even if he’s going to miss a month.

Your league is very shallow so it will have a lot to do with waivers how you do, but you look slightly heavy on speed and light on power… Your pitching looks excellent, probably better than it needs to be…

13 team 5×5 roto keeper league. Players start at 3 year contract and can be extended for $5 per year going into the 3rd year. Being offered Kemp ($52 year 3/4 of contract) and Gio ($15 year 3/4 of contract) for my Harper ($11 year 3/5 of contract).

Is trading Harper worth it? I already traded Trout ($15 year 3/5) and garbage for Yu, Agon, Reyes, Ike D, B Revere. Kemp and Gio probably puts the season in the bag (before day one!) but might not be necessary. Gio is a great keeper and Kemp’s technically $15 below draft cost in this league.

I like the hitting a lot… I like the guys you have on pitching, but it’s a lot of upside/risk and not that much of a sure thing… Pitching could be fine, but it might also be a mess… H2H could fix that with some good streaming though…

Which combo do you like more? BJ Upton and Rutledge or Chris Davis and Aron Hill? It’s a proposed trade… they’re so close does it just come down to team needs? (Power vs Speed) or is there a clear winner in your mind?

So what do you think of Cashner now? I’m still going to hold on to him because I love his potential, but is he a guy you’d get in your lineup every day for the Ks? Or is it a bad idea to start long relievers?

At SP I have Verlander, Smzidjadjaj, Cobb, and Wade Davis. I need some starters, there are always good guys on the wire though. It’s an 11 team (someone dropped out) roto league. Crap load of stat categories.

Just kind of curious since I’ve not gone as far as doing an NL only (or an AL only), do you still get count a guys production if he’s traded to the other league? If a player is traded from one league to the other, does he appear on waivers for the guy who has the best waiver priority?

I’ve never played in an NL, or AL only league. But I have heard that if the guy is traded out of the league, you in turn do not get his production going forward. And I dont know if his earlier stats get wiped out, I think it depends on the league. I’ve read about leagues like that. And yes, guys that traded into the league youre using get put on waivers. Sounds interesting. You have to be on top of trade rumors and pick guys up early I would think.

@Grey: Yeah, I dropped Fiers and picked up Valdespin (thanks for the advice) because they said he went to the bullpen. But now that he’s starting I think I’ll just wait until the day before his start to decide if I’ll pick him back up. Thanks as always!

(1) Did I do ok? I’m worried as I think own a lot lot lot of high variance output talent, but I’d figure enough of my guys will be good that I can paper-over the guys who die – especially given I’ve backed up 2b/SS/3b.
(2) When the wire talent shows up week 1, who are my first two players to cut?

In a fantasy HR derby league where you pick 7 guys (no swaps) who’s combined 2012 HR totals cannot exceed 169, who are you going with? Ryan Howard seems like good value and maybe Joey Bats and Rosario, but any rookies? Thoughts?

Do you see any changes that should be made? Not sure I see anything, but I like another set of eyes checking things out. One of my issues has been for my second base spot. Not sure about Danny over Rutledge and don’t know if I need Middlebrooks and Myers on my bench or if I need some different options there.

I’m in a 14 team league… Bats are solid, but in desperate need of some pitching… Heres’ my very limited options that are available… Saves plus holds is a category, Era, Ks, ERA, Whip, Quality starts. and wins..My question is do I go Uehera or Al Alburquerque?… Felix Doubrount is also out there if I wanna go strictly for Ks, Ws etc?… What to do ???

Ha! Thanks! I think your hitting is light on power and heavy on speed… Jackson, Simmons, EverCab, Martin… All better at speed… Morneau and Hosmer at corners is yawnstipating too… Pitching looks decent though…

@Jack Full of Hate: I have Carter too! Probably not. Ludwick was a total desperation pick for me when I thought I might be short on power at the end of the draft. No science behind it at all. Though I have just checked Rudy’s POint Shares and Lud ranks 151 which isn’t too dusty for a FA guy.

But you’ll regret dropping Carter when he starts pumping HRs over that short LF fence in Minute Maid.

@AL KOHOLIC: you should try the white trash mimosa sometime, everyone who does, myself included is weary at first then ends up liking it. Some bartender in seattle gave me one as a pick me up when I was on a bender. It worked

@AL KOHOLIC: The entire IF was replaced soon afterwards, so unless they left out of solidarity with Kipnis, I think that Francona was just giving everyone a chance to play. SPRING TRAINING IS ALMOST OVER!!!

@Grey: 12 team mixed H2H points Dynasty League. Trade my Kershaw & Phelps for his Cliff Lee & Medlen? Tough to trade Kershaw since I can have him forever, but getting Medlen for Phelps in the deal makes it very tempting… Thanks!

What’s kinda funny is Steve Gardner sent me this list but I was CC’d with 25 other ‘perts so now I’ve got these people talking to themselves and 60 emails clogging up my in box… People don’t understand the Reply All thing at all…

A guy in my league wants Rickie Weeks badly. I drafted him because he kept sliding and felt I could flip him eventually. I have Utley at 2B and we all know he isn’t the picture of health but when healthy he’s a very solid 2B option. The Hamels owner is really interested in Zimmermann and Latos. Should I trade either guy with Weeks to get Hamels and if so which one should I move?

@Hats for Bats: There are a whole bunch of 3B eligible guys that may currently be on waivers or dropped the 1st few weeks of the season, that could end having strong seasons. Middlebrooks, Reynolds, Machado, Youkilis, Arenado, M Young, C Johnson, …or even Chisenhall. Especially in H2H, where you can wait a few weeks to get your act together, I would wait and just grab any 3B that starts off hot.

Grey – I’ve absorbed as much Razzball as I could before I drafted my team today. 10 team H2H auction league 6×5 (+OPS). Thoughts please?! Back end of my rotation was a bunch of $1 pitchers I plan to drop soon.

I think the hitting looks solid, maybe a bit of an average problem, but in H2H, and 6×5, that’s not that big of an issue… The pitching looks great, not sure who you plan on dropping… Maybe Hellickson and Harrison, but that’s about it…

Yo Greycarlo, good stuff. I’ve got a question for ya. I picked up Adam Eaton to stash in my injured spot in my 12 team H2H mixed league so I have a roster spot to fill for a backup and not sure how to utilize it.

I drafted Gyorko to back up Kinsler but I’m worried he may take a while to gain his eligibility at 2B so I was considering adding Beckham since he’s the only bum on waivers with a hint of upside. Also considering Leonys Martin but worried about him sitting vs Leftys, or Starling Marte or Carlos Gomez. Then there’s the High upside stash of a Tavaras, Arenado or Billy Hamilton. What would Greycarlo Do?? Thanks brother as always and good luck with your teams in ’13!

New 10 team H2H league. Stats lean towards hitting more than pitching.

My main ideas were to:

1) Pick up a lot of power/steal combo guys
2) Wait on SP until Darvish (who I might have took a little early anyway, but I like him a lot) and then get a lot of good upside SPs
3) Pick up a lot of low-end closers that may/may not close and then just use those as the first waiver drops if they don’t pan out

My only pick I don’t like is I think I reached a bit for Miguel Montero, but other than that, I think it’s okay. Thoughts?

Was offered his Milone for my Willingham. I’m considering it b/c I’m light on SPs and heavy on OFs (and hitting generally). What u think? Here’s my team. And any other thoughts about my team would be appreciated! (10 team 5×5)

@Jack Full of Hate: Hahaha, very funny. Luebke had a “setback,” and I can’t find anything that provides more information than that vagueness. Also, I know well enough to not let my Padres fandom affect my FBB teams; more accurately, I do, but I’m a pessimistic fan…

I’ve been considering dealing Cano to in my Keep 18, no contracts league, and after reading Jaywrong’s bold predictions, maybe I should do that sooner rather than later (getting back fair value, of course).

I’d start with Cano for Gyorko and then add any of his Cespedes, Hosmer, Baez, Soler, Taveras, Beachy, Bauer, Teheran, Wheeler, Fujikawa, Parnell, Soriano or Wilhelmsen…

I think there’s enough talent there to maybe get something done, but who would you want back?

@Grey: I’m trying to turn one impact guy into more than one, basically. Gyorko, Hosmer and Cespedes would replace Cano, Cozart and Chris Carter on my current roster. Wheeler and/or Taveras would go into my minor league spots.

T-minus 16 minutes till we kick the tires and light the fires on another season…

The moron who finished 3rd in one of my money leagues dropped Rizzo, his 6th round pick, to pick up a middle reliever. We score HLDs, but still how can anyone be this dumb? I only have 7th WW priority, but maybe the 6 ahead of me are dumb enough not to notice.

Between D’Arnaud and Baez in a minor league draft, NL Only 4×4 keeper. Am I crazy to go with Baez? I already have 2 young catchers. I saw Baez in the Spring crank 2 very long homeruns off of major league pitching. Baez won’t be up until next year.. but it is a keeper league, so Baez eligibility doesn’t start til he’s up.

From another site: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Jason Motte (elbow) is “still a significant time away” from being cleared for a throwing program.
Motte will open the season on the disabled list and won’t be reevaluated for at least another two weeks. While the injury isn’t a long-term concern at this point, Motte remains without a timetable to return. Mitchell Boggs will handle the early-season save chances for the Cardinals.

As a braves fan, its always good to see D Lowe fucking someone else’s team. Only he’s getting paid far less money to screw things up for the rangers than the handsome sum the bravos were forking out for his 4.5+ ERA for several years.

@Grey: Yeah with Cole, that’s why I was looking at Baez and D’Arnaud…a couple of hitters in scarce positions.. but I don’t want to pass up on best available talent.
If for some reason D’Arnaud is not there.. do I take one of those pitchers or go with Baez?

@Grey: I wish I could go back in time and warn my past self that it’s not worth it. But I already used that wish to tell another past self not to draft Figgins. Then that other past self still drafted him, being all, “but it’s an OBP league!”

A. Who would you suggest dropping of valdespin(leadoff)/dozier(2nd)/espinosa (batting 7th) if Im able to upgrade up the middle?
B. Critique of my pitching?
C. I need to grab a DL sub for Luebke and Straily/Tillman/Neiman/Wei-Yin /Maholm are the cream of the crap. Do I go with one of them or gamble on Cashner or Jansen getting full time gigs?